In the shadow of the Paris incidents, I again turn my attention to the wisdom and perspective of a great teacher and mentor - Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller. Although Bucky (as he preferred to be called) is no longer the household name he was a few decades ago when he was available to us in a physical body, some of us recognize that he was, in fact, one of the first truly global citizens concerned about all life on the planet he named Spaceship Earth.
He consistently a very specific mission from 1927 when he was such a "failure" that he seriously contemplated suicide, until his death in 1983. That global mission and vision is reflected in the question he often asked himself and his audiences ...
"How do we make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone?"
Simplifying even more, the issue Bucky devoted his entire adult lift to is ... shifting our focus and resources from weaponry to what Bucky labeled livingry. This transformation only became a viable possibility in 1976. It was then that (as Bucky predicted in the 1930's) we reached a point on our planet where there was (and still are) enough resources to support all life. Actually, Bucky claimed that there are enough resources to support all life and all humans at a higher standard of living than anyone currently living knows.
Radical as this idea may seem, it is true, and Bucky proved it with hard data decades before such a possibility was even a science fiction dream for most people. This is a reality that few people know about, much less embrace or advocate, but it's crucial to our survival and success as a species and as individuals. As Bucky reminded his audiences time and time again over the course of many decades ...
"It is now highly feasible to take care of everybody on Earth at a higher standard of living than any have ever known. It no longer has to be you or me. Selfishness is unnecessary. War is obsolete. It is a mater of converting the high technology from weaponry to livingry."
What this means is that had we shifted our focus and resources from weaponry to livingry, there would have been no Paris massacre or any other warring events perpetrated by terrorists or governments. People living a good life with all the resources they want and need including food, shelter, education, health care, etc. would not pick up a bomb or gun and kill their fellow travelers on the planet Bucky named Spaceship Earth. Perspective terrorists, patriots and soldiers could also not be convinced to take up arms by a few deranged individuals who clearly require help with their mental illness.
In addition, when we shift from weaponry to livingry, those mentally ill individuals who continue to espouse violence, killing and war will stand out from the norm so much that they'll quickly receive the mental health care they need or be confined to humane institutions where they can do no harm to themselves or others. That's how a sane, abundant society takes care of people. They don't use weaponry to hunt them down like rabid animals. We find them and help them as best we can.
Accordingly, the Paris massacre and all the other acts of violence occurring almost daily on our planet can be solved quite easily once we realize that it's not an issue of power or might defeating right but an issue of educating people. As Bucky so often reminded us ...
"There is no energy crisis, food crisis or environmental crisis. There is only a crisis of ignorance."
Once you understand and appreciate this perspective, it becomes a matter how to most effectively efficiently create a paradigm shift in which most people know and accept the reality of this truth. Again, we can turn to Bucky for the answer. After all, he was the person who in 1927 turned his entire life into an experiment to determine and document what one individual could achieve that could not be accomplished by any government, corporation, religion or other organization no matter how large or powerful. Here's what he advised on this subject ...
"Never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person."
It's now time to seriously take this sage advice. The old paradigm of competition, war and greed are no longer viable. These must be replaced by cooperation, peace and sharing the bounty that our tiny fragile planet has provided us. If not, we'll just continue on with politics (which Bucky told us is obsolete) as usual. And as Bucky reminded us over and over (and we've seen again and again including in Paris) ...
"The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun."